The 12th Kisei was the 12th edition of the Kisei tournament for the game of Go. Since Koichi Kobayashi won the previous year, he was given an automatic place in the final. Eleven players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final two. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would face Kobayashi. Masao Kato became the challenger after beating Hideo Otake 2 games to 0, but would lose to Kobayashi 4 games to 1 in the final.

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Eio Sakata
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Eio Sakata was a 9-dan Japanese professional Go player. Sakata became a professional Go player in 1935 and his first title match was the Honinbō in 1951 when he challenged Hashimoto Utaro. More than usual was at stake in the match because Hashimoto played for the Kansai Ki-in and this put additional pressure on Sakata to win the title back for the Nihon Ki-in. Sakata started out well, winning three of the first four games, but Hashimoto fought back and won the four games. Afterwards, Sakata went on to win a couple of titles which were the start of a meteoric run of major wins in which he won almost all of the titles in Japan except the Honinbō. In 1961 he was again the challenger for the Honinbō. His opponent, Takagawa Kaku, had held the title for nine years straight, Sakata won the Honinbō and held it for seven years in a row. Thus he became an honorary Honinbo, and was called the 23rd Honinbo. During his Honinbo reign, in 1963, captured the Meijin, making Sakata the first player to simultaneously hold both titles. Sakatas strongest year was 1964, when he won 30 games and lost only two and held seven major titles, Meijin, Honinbo, Nihon Ki-in Championship, Asahi Pro Best Ten, Oza, Nihon Kiin#1, and NHK Cup. Sakatas challenger for the 1965 Meijin was Rin Kaiho, who at the time was just 23 years old, Sakata was the overwhelming favorite, but Rin won the title. Sakata challenged two years in a row but could not win the Meijin back, Rin then went on to take the Honinbō from Sakata. Although Sakata suffered defeats for these top titles, he went on to win many titles, including the Judan. Sakata wrote many books in Japanese, several have translated into English, including Modern Joseki and Fuseki, The Middle Game of Go, Tesuji and Anti-Suji of Go. Sakata died on October 22,2010 at the age of 90, ranks #2 in total amount of titles in Japan

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Masaki Takemiya
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Masaki Takemiya is a professional Go player. Masaki Takemiya was born in Japan and he became one of the many disciples of the Minoru Kitani school. His rise to fame began when he was only 15 years old, by the time he was 15, he was already 5 dan. He earned the nickname 9 dan killer because he won several games against top rated players and his famous cosmic style of Go would become popular among fans. It focused on large moyo in the center of the board, hes known as keeping a consistent record of winning titles. The longest period in which he did not hold a title has only been 4 years and he closed off 2005 with an impressive win of 16 straight games, which was stopped by Omori Yasushi in the qualifiers for the 3rd World Oza. Outside of Go, Takemiya also won the biggest Japanese backgammon tournament, three of Takemiyas books have been published in English -- Enclosure Joseki, now out of print but available in digital form, The Imagination of a Go Master, and This Is Go the Natural Way. His sanrensei openings involve plenty of fights, the sequence of moves from 00-07 in the lower right corner involves a common joseki that creates a moyo in conjunction with the triangled stone. Takemiya often plays a variation of this joseki but has made a few innovations of his own such as the kosumi in response to the same approach in the upper right corner. The resulting sequence could result in moves 08-13, where 09 is the kosumi move, Takemiyas other great love is dancing. He says that go is more like a dance than a war and this has also influenced his style in his later years. Ranks #9-t in total amount of titles in Japan, a review of his book in French Go style of Takemiya. Is it a choice for you